Look Behind You
by Bratanimus
Summary: "You only have to look behind you/At who's underlined you." - Ladytron. Ten drabbles based on the character of Jaime Lannister. Jaime/Brienne, Jaime/Cersei, plus Tyrion, Tywin, Catelyn, Tommen, Robert. COMPLETE.


**Fandom****:** Game of Thrones/ASOIAF

**Character(s**): Jaime, Aerys, Brienne, Catelyn, Tyrion, Tywin, Robert

**Rating****:** T for suggested sexual themes

**Author's Note**: Written for the Shippy Sea Shanty challenge at the LiveJournal community GameOfShips. My selected character was Jaime.

Rules:

1. Pick a character or a pairing.

2. Put your music on shuffle/random and start playing songs.

3. For each song, write something inspired by the song related to your selected character/pairing. No pre-planning and no writing after the song is over. No skipping songs, either.

4. Write for 10 songs and post your results (with applicable warnings and rating) in the comments with a link to the rest if the word limit gets you. Be sure to include the song/artist.

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1. King's Crossing, by Elliott Smith

_Open your parachute and grab your gun_

_Falling down like an omen, a setting sun_

_Read the part and return at five_

_It's a hell of a role if you can keep it alive_

For the first time, Jaime knows who he is. Sword in hand, he is nearly complete. Swinging that piece of metal behind his head and through a man's throat, he can almost forget his sweet addiction. He prepares for death every day, because don't they deserve it? In his sister's arms, everything is right. Everywhere else, it's wrong. On the battlefield, the blood blinds him and the sounds drown out every doubt. This is who he is. It must be enough.

2. Destroy Everything You Touch, by Ladytron

_You only have to look behind you _

_At who's underlined you _

_Destroy everything you touch today _

_Destroy me this way_

In the moment before he ends Aerys's life, Jaime thinks there is time to back out. But he's never backed out of anything, and so the blade sinks in ridiculously easily. What a tiny little man lies on the stones, blood burbling out of his thin lips, and for once no insane chatter issues forth from them. The mad king is dead, and Jaime looks over the body to see the dust the king's cloak has set flying in the still air of the throne room. He thinks it odd, that this is the last effect Aerys will have on anything, anyone. Jaime has brought an end to a madman's whimsy. He can't hurt anyone ever again and Jaime feels powerful and empty.

3. Girl in the War, by Josh Ritter

_But I got a girl in the war Paul her eyes are like champagne _

_They sparkle bubble over and in the morning all you got is rain_

Her body is shaped almost like his, her hair shorter, her lips thinner and more guarded. She never laughs. Sometimes he dreams he is fucking her but then she turns into the Hound and she is fucking him and he wakes up aroused and horrified. If he could make her laugh, she might almost look like a woman, because her eyes – he might as well admit it – are prettier than Cersei's. Kinder, more vulnerable. Bluer. And here she is, a woman, carrying a sword like him, killing men like him, betraying people just like he would, though she doesn't mean to. He is afraid to sleep because of how she appears to him. The Hound is one image. Her own strong, naked body is another. And he wants to touch it.

4. Between the Bars, by Madeleine Peyroux (originally Elliott Smith)

_People you've been before that you don't want around anymore_

_That push, shove, won't bend to your will_

_I'll keep them still_

Catelyn offers more than wine, Jaime knows this. Her eyes are cruel, but her words could almost be a balm, if he listened right. This is a way out, and better than a way out: a way to make things pure again, or as pure as a man like him is likely to get. He drinks and lets her little speeches wash over him, and he begins to believe that someone like him could be trusted by someone like her, a mother of a broken boy, the wife of a righteous man who would never, ever betray a king.

5. Paths of Victory, by Cat Power (originally Bob Dylan)

_I walked down to the valley_

_Turned my head up high_

_Seen that silver linin'_

_That was hangin' in the sky_

He's still on the horse, lashed to the wench. He can't remember her name, though she keeps telling him. All he sees is a washed-out sky full of pregnant clouds, with the stench of his hand, his hand, always in his nostrils. It's as if he's eating his own flesh with every breath, so he tries not to breathe, but the body is a stubborn thing. He almost laughs as he realizes that she's smelling it, too. It's a strange meal they share on this horse.

6. Siren Song, by Bat for Lashes

_I was a heart breaker I loved you_

_The same way I do_

_But I've got so much wickedness and sin_

Cersei never lays her head on Jaime's shoulder after they've made love. She can never slow down long enough to rest, and he wonders if she ever sleeps, truly. He's seen her with her eyes closed, but he doesn't think her brain turns off. She gets up now and puts on a robe and sits at her desk, shuffling through papers and grumbling to herself, as if she hadn't just been sweating underneath his body, as if she hadn't just bitten her lip to keep from screaming his name. There was a time when she would stay, but now there are too many people who need to be dazzled. Jaime was impressed too long ago and he doesn't need her complete attention or her full-lipped smile anymore. He must be satisfied to watch from his pillow.

7. Hang Me Up to Dry, by Cold War Kids

_Careless in our summer clothes _

_Splashing around in the muck and the mire_

They rush into the sea fully clothed, not caring about the washer women who will have to soak the salt out of their finery. Tyrion stays in the shallows and kicks water at them. Jaime tries to dunk his sister, but really, he's grabbing her ass and slipping a thumb under her smallclothes in front until she gasps. He's stronger now, after all the battles, and she can't stop him. She doesn't want to stop him. He laughs and Cersei dives under the water, not so gently biting his cock through his breeches, and this time it's his turn to gasp. They rule the world today, and no one, not even Tyrion, can stop them from kissing when she surfaces.

8. Somebody More Like You, by Nickel Creek

_I didn't hear you say you're sorry_

_The fault must be mine_

_I wish you all the best of luck_

_At finding somebody more like you_

It didn't happen all at once. Her body widened after the birth of the children, the hair thinned a bit, wrinkles gathered at the corners of her eyes and around her mouth where she frowned. Hell, his own body was riddled with scars, no longer smooth and hairless. He had his share of wrinkles, and even a few grey hairs hidden amongst the blond ones. And then there was his hand.

But those changes didn't matter, not really. What changed and mattered was the coldness in her eyes, and the way her body no longer molded itself to his in perfect puzzle seamlessness. She was as rigid as a sword, one that he could no longer wield.

9. Dinner at Eight, by Rufus Wainwright

_No matter how strong_

_I'm gonna take you down_

_With one little stone_

_I'm gonna break you down_

_And see what you're worth_

_What you're really worth to me_

As Jaime stands over the stinking body, the lack of his sword hand creating a massive ache that distracts from the empty thudding of his heart, he thinks of all the things he never said to his father. Could he once have said he loved him, perhaps when he was a child? It was possible. It was possible that Tywin told him that was soft and craven and that boys didn't experience such emotions, that love was for weak, stupid girls. But Tywin had loved their mother, hadn't he? Why did he get to feel love and not Jaime? He feels like a child now, and yet so weary and old and alone. Even Tommen's tears cannot soften the stone of his heart.

10. The King Is Half Undressed, by Jellyfish

_The fool deserves the bed he's made_

_Where idiots slumber_

Jaime stands next to Tyrion on their sister's wedding day. Her hair is a glorious halo, her gown a soft blue satin that matches her eyes perfectly. Her skin is pale and untouched by brutish hands, unscratched by a black-haired barrel of a chest. She is a whore being bought today, and she smiles at the pathetic clod who is paying the price. She will spread her legs and get a crown for it. Jaime's hand twitches on the hilt of his sword, but there can be no heroics today. It was his last act of heroism that ensured his sister would be sold like chattel.

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_**Author's Note:** Thanks for reading! Reviews are better than Lannister gold. :)_


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